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Mark Twain
Mark Twain, the Father of American Literature, surprisingly plays a major role in the Factory F.R.I.E.N.D.S. saga, having constructed the Animatronic Factory as a monument. General Information Mark Twain, considered to be the Father of American Literature, is the wise, intellectual force of the group. He is an older man, and is always willing to assist. Despite being elderly, (One Hundred and Eighty, to be precise.) he is capable of dueling and defeating enemies, vandals, and others who pose a threat to his semi-tranquil life. Early Life Samuel Langhorne Clemens was born in Florida, Missouri, on November 30, 1835. He was the son of Jane (née Lampton; 1803–1890), a native of Kentucky, and John Marshall Clemens (1798–1847), a Virginian. His parents met when his father moved to Missouri and were married in 1823. Twain was the sixth of seven children, but only three of his siblings survived childhood: Orion (1825–1897); Henry (1838–1858); and Pamela (1827–1904). His sister Margaret (1833–1839) died when he was three, and his brother Benjamin (1832–1842) died three years later. Another brother, Pleasant (1828–1829), died at six months.9 Twain was born two weeks after the closest approach to Earth of Halley's Comet. His ancestors were of Scots-Irish, English, and Cornish extraction.10111213 When he was four, Twain's family moved to Hannibal, Missouri,14 a port town on the Mississippi River that inspired the fictional town of St. Petersburg in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.15 Slavery, then legal in Missouri, was a theme Twain would explore in these writings. In 1847, when Twain was 11, his father, by then an attorney and judge, died of pneumonia.16 The next year Twain left school after the fifth grade17 to become a printer's apprentice. In 1851, he began working as a typesetter and contributor of articles and humorous sketches for the Hannibal Journal, a newspaper Orion owned. When he was 18, he left Hannibal and worked as a printer in New York City, Philadelphia, St. Louis, and Cincinnati. He joined the newly formed International Typographical Union, the printers union, andeducated himself in public libraries in the evenings, finding wider information than at a conventional school.18 Twain describes in Life on the Mississippi how, when he was a boy, "there was but one permanent ambition" among his comrades: to be a steamboatman. "Pilot was the grandest position of all. The pilot, even in those days of trivial wages, had a princely salary – from a hundred and fifty to two hundred and fifty dollars a month, and no board to pay." As Twain described it, the pilot's prestige exceeded that of the captain. The pilot had to "get up a warm personal acquaintanceship with every old snag and one-limbed cottonwood and every obscure wood pile that ornaments the banks of this river for twelve hundred miles; and more than that, must ... actually know where these things are in the dark..." Steamboat pilot Horace E. Bixby took on Twain as a "cub" pilot to teach him the river betweenNew Orleans and St. Louis for $500, payable out of Twain's first wages after graduating. Twain studied the Mississippi, learning its landmarks, how to navigate its currents effectively, and how to "read the river" and its constantly shifting channels, reefs, submerged snags and rocks that would "tear the life out of the strongest vessel that ever floated".19 It was more than two years before he received his pilot's license. Piloting gave him his pen name, Mark Twain, from "mark twain", the leadsman's cry for a measured river depth of two fathoms, which was safe water for a steamboat. While training, Samuel convinced his younger brother Henry to work with him. Henry was killed on June 21, 1858, when the steamboat he was working on, the Pennsylvania, exploded. Twain had foreseen this death in a dream a month earlier,20:275 which inspired his interest in parapsychology; he was an early member of the Society for Psychical Research.21 Twain was guilt-stricken and held himself responsible for the rest of his life. Twain continued to work on the river and was a river pilot until the American Civil War broke out in 1861, and traffic along the Mississippi was curtailed. At the start of hostilities, Twain enlisted briefly in a Confederate local unit. Twain later wrote a sketch, "The Private History of a Campaign That Failed", that told how he and his friends had been Confederate volunteers for two weeks before disbanding.22 He then left for Nevada to work for Orion, who was Secretary of the Nevada Territory. Twain describes the episode in his book, Roughing It.2324 Travels Library of Twain House, with hand-stenciled paneling, fireplaces from India, embossed wallpapers, and hand-carved mantel purchased in Scotland Twain joined Orion, who in 1861 became secretary to James W. Nye, the governor of Nevada Territory, and headed west. Twain and his brother traveled more than two weeks on a stagecoach across the Great Plains and the Rocky Mountains, visiting the Mormon community in Salt Lake City. Twain's journey ended in the silver-mining town of Virginia City, Nevada, where he became a miner on the Comstock Lode.22 Twain failed as a miner and worked at a Virginia City newspaper, the Territorial Enterprise.25 Working under writer and friend Dan DeQuille, here he first used the pen name that would become famous; on February 3, 1863, he signed a humorous travel account, "Letter From Carson – re: Joe Goodman; party at Gov. Johnson's; music", with "Mark Twain".26 Further information: Mark Twain in Nevada His experiences in the American West inspired Roughing It (written during 1870–71 and published in 1872) and his experiences in Angels Camp, California, in Calaveras County, provided material for "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" (1865). Twain moved to San Francisco in 1864, still as a journalist, and met writers such as Bret Harte and Artemus Ward. The young poet Ina Coolbrith may have romanced him.27 His first success as a writer came when his humorous tall tale, "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County", was published in a New York weekly, The Saturday Press, on November 18, 1865. It brought him national attention. A year later, he traveled to the Sandwich Islands (present-day Hawaii) as a reporter for the Sacramento Union. His travelogues were popular and became the basis for his first lectures.28 In 1867, a local newspaper funded a trip to the Mediterranean. During his tour of Europe and the Middle East, he wrote a popular collection of travel letters, which were later compiled as The Innocents Abroad (1869). It was on this trip that he met his future brother-in-law, Charles Langdon. Both were passengers aboard the Quaker City on their way to the Holy Land. Langdon showed a picture of his sister Olivia to Twain, who claimed to have fallen in love at first sight.[citation needed] Upon returning to the United States, Twain was offered honorary membership Yale University's secret society Scroll and Key, in 1868.29 Its devotion to "fellowship, moral and literary self-improvement, and charity" suited him well. Marriage and children Throughout 1868, Twain and Olivia Langdon corresponded. Though she rejected his first marriage proposal, two months later, they were engaged. In February 1870, Twain and Langdon were married in Elmira, New York,28 where he courted her and managed to overcome her father's initial reluctance.30 She came from a "wealthy but liberal family", and through her, he met abolitionists, "socialists, principled atheists and activists for women's rights and social equality", including Harriet Beecher Stowe (his next-door neighbor in Hartford, Connecticut), Frederick Douglass, and the writer and utopian socialist William Dean Howells,31 who became a long-time friend. The couple lived in Buffalo, New York, from 1869 to 1871. Twain owned a stake in the Buffalo Express newspaper and worked as an editor and writer. While they were living in Buffalo, their son Langdon died of diphtheria at age 19 months. They had three daughters: Susy (1872–1896), Clara (1874–1962)32 and Jean (1880–1909). The couple's marriage lasted 34 years, until Olivia's death in 1904. All of the Clemens family are buried in Elmira's Woodlawn Cemetery. Twain moved his family to Hartford, Connecticut, where starting in 1873 he arranged the building of a home. In the 1870s and 1880s, Twain and his family summered at Quarry Farm in Elmira, the home of Olivia's sister, Susan Crane.3334 In 1874,33 Susan had a study built apart from the main house so that her brother-in-law would have a quiet place in which to write. Also, Twain smoked pipes constantly, and Susan Crane did not wish him to do so in her house. During his 17 years in Hartford (1874–1891) and over 20 summers at Quarry Farm, Twain wrote many of his classic novels, among them The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876), The Prince and the Pauper (1881), Life on the Mississippi (1883), Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885), and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1889).[citation needed] Twain made a second tour of Europe, described in the book A Tramp Abroad (1880). His tour included a stay in Heidelberg from May 6 until July 23, 1878, and a visit to London. Love of science and technology Twain was fascinated with science and scientific inquiry. He developed a close and lasting friendship with Nikola Tesla, and the two spent much time together in Tesla's laboratory. Twain patented three inventions, including an "Improvement in Adjustable and Detachable Straps for Garments" (to replace suspenders) and a history trivia game.35 Most commercially successful was a self-pasting scrapbook; a dried adhesive on the pages needed only to be moistened before use.[citation needed] Twain's novel A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1889) features a time traveler from the contemporary US, using his knowledge of science to introduce modern technology to Arthurian England. This type of storyline would later become a common feature of a science fiction subgenre, alternate history. In 1909, Thomas Edison visited Twain at his home in Redding, Connecticut and filmed him. Part of the footage was used in The Prince and the Pauper (1909), a two-reel short film. It is said to have been the only known existing film footage of Twain.36 Financial troubles Twain made a substantial amount of money through his writing, but he lost a great deal through investments, mostly in new inventions and technology, particularly the Paige typesetting machine. It was a beautifully engineered mechanical marvel that amazed viewers when it worked, but it was prone to breakdowns. Twain spent $300,000 (equal to $8,200,000 in inflation-adjusted terms 37) on it between 1880 and 1894;38 but before it could be perfected it was made obsolete by the Linotype. He lost not only the bulk of his book profits but also a substantial portion of his wife's inheritance.39 Twain also lost money through his publishing house, Charles L. Webster and Company, which enjoyed initial success selling the memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant, but went broke soon afterward, losing money on a biography of Pope Leo XIII. Fewer than 200 copies were sold.39 Reacting to the dwindling income Twain and his family closed down their expensive Hartford home and moved to Europe in June 1891.William M. Laffan of The New York Sun and the McClure Newspaper Syndicate offered Twain the publication of a series of six European letters. Considering the health problems troubling Twain, his wife, and their daughter Susy, it was believed that visiting European baths would be of benefit.40 Until May 1895, the family stayed mainly in France, Germany, and Italy with longer spells at Berlin (winter 1891/92), Florence (fall and winter 1892/93), and Paris (winters and springs 1893/94 and 1894/95). During that period Twain returned four times to New York due to his enduring business troubles. Arriving in September 1893, he took "a cheap room", at $1.50 per day, atThe Players Club, which he had to keep until March 1894, and meanwhile became "The Belle of New York".41 Twain's writings and lectures, combined with the help of a new friend, enabled him to recover financially.42 In fall 1893, he began a 15-year-long friendship with financier Henry Huttleston Rogers, a principal of Standard Oil. Rogers first made Twain file for bankruptcy in April 1894. Then Rogers had Twain transfer the copyrights on his written works to his wife, Olivia, to prevent creditors from gaining possession of them. Finally, Rogers took absolute charge of Twain's money until all the creditors were paid.43 Twain accepted an offer from Robert Sparrow Smythe44 and embarked on a year-long, around-the-world lecture tour in July 189545 to pay off his creditors in full, although he was no longer under any legal obligation to do so.46 It would be a long, arduous journey, and he was sick much of the time, mostly from a cold and a carbuncle. The first part of the itinerary, until the second half of August, took him across Northern America to British Columbia, Canada. For the second part he sailed across the Pacific Ocean. His scheduled lecture in Honolulu, Hawaii had to be cancelled due to a cholera epidemic.4748 Twain went on to Fiji, Australia, New Zealand, Sri Lanka,India, Mauritius, and South Africa. Twain's three months in India became the centerpiece of his 712-page book Following the Equator. In the second half of July 1896 he sailed back to England where the Clemenses left for America fourteen months before.49 Twain and his family spent four more years in Europe, mainly in England and Austria(October 1897 until May 1899) with longer spells at London and Vienna. Clara had wished to study piano under Theodor Leschetizky in Vienna.50 Unfortunately Jean's health did not benefit from consulting with specialists in Vienna, the "City of Doctors". Following a lead by Poultney Bigelow the Clemens family moved to London in spring 1899. Bigelow had good experience being treated by Dr. Jonas Henrik Kellgren (sv), an Swedish osteopathic practitioner with a practice in Belgravia. There they were persuaded to spend the summer at Kellgren's sanatorium by the lake in the Swedish village of Sanna. Coming back in fall the treatment was continued in London until Twain was convinced by lengthy inquiries in America that similar osteopathic expertise was available there.51 In mid-1900, he was the guest of newspaper proprietor Hugh Gilzean-Reid at Dollis Hill House, located on the north side of London, UK. In regard to Dollis Hill, Twain wrote that he had "never seen any place that was so satisfactorily situated, with its noble trees and stretch of country, and everything that went to make life delightful, and all within a biscuit's throw of the metropolis of the world."52 He then returned to America in October 1900, having earned enough to pay off his debts. In winter 1900/01 Twain became his country's most prominent opponent of imperialism raising the issue in his speeches, interviews and writings. In January 1901 he began serving as vice-president of the Anti-Imperialist League of New York.53 Speaking engagements Twain was in great demand as a featured speaker, performing solo humorous talks, similar to what would later become stand-up comedy.54 He gave paid talks to many men's clubs, including the Authors' Club, Beefsteak Club, Vagabonds, White Friars, and Monday Evening Club of Hartford. In the late 1890s, he spoke to the Savage Club in London and was elected honorary member. When told that only three men had been so honored, including the Prince of Wales, he replied "Well, it must make the Prince feel mighty fine."55 In 1897, Twain spoke to the Concordia Press Club in Vienna as a special guest, following diplomat Charlemagne Tower, Jr. In German, to the great amusement of the assemblage, Twain delivered the speech "Die Schrecken der deutschen Sprache" ("The Horrors of the German Language").56 In 1901, Twain was invited to speak at Princeton University's Cliosophic Literary Society, where he was made an honorary member.57 Later life, and transition to FNAF F.R.I.E.N.D.S. Universe. Twain passed through a period of deep depression that began in 1896 when his daughter, Susy, died of meningitis. Olivia's death in 1904 and Jean's on December 24, 1909, deepened his gloom.59 On May 20, 1909, his close friend Henry Rogers died suddenly. In 1906, Twain began his autobiography in the North American Review. In April, Twain heard that his friend Ina Coolbrith had lost nearly all she owned in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, and he volunteered a few autographed portrait photographs to be sold for her benefit. To further aid Coolbrith, George Wharton James visited Twain in New York and arranged for a new portrait session. Initially resistant, Twain admitted that four of the resulting images were the finest ones ever taken of him.60 Twain formed a club in 1906 for girls he viewed as surrogate granddaughters, the Angel Fish and Aquarium Club. The dozen or so members ranged in age from 10 to 16. Twain exchanged letters with his "Angel Fish" girls and invited them to concerts and the theatre and to play games. Twain wrote in 1908 that the club was his "life's chief delight".61 In 1907, Twain met Dorothy Quick (then aged 11) on a transatlantic crossing, beginning "a friendship that was to last until the very day of his death".62 Oxford University awarded Twain an honorary doctorate in letters (D.Litt.) in 1907. Mark Twain passed away on April 21st, 1910. In Heaven, Twain was informed that there was still work to be done. And, he was sent - not back to his earth - but the FNAF F.R.I.E.N.D.S. earth, where he was just as popular, moral, and intelligent as he had been. He soon became a major figure in the happenings of this world. In Episode 11 of ''Remorse of the Factory, ''it is revealed that, using the blueprints from Nikola Tesla's laboratory, Twain built the Animatronic Factory. In Episode 12, it is revealed that Janette is Twain's great-great-grandchild. Weapons *Wit. *Revolver. Trivia Twain has four miniature iron lungs implanted into his chest. Twain has five cats - Bambino, Sour Mash, Appollinaris, Blatherkite, and Zoroaster. Twain dislikes food that is not of American origin. Chronology (Canon Roleplay Chronology) ''unnamed Mark Twain roleplay soon to come (1) - ''Mark Twain's M.C.C.L.R.M.F.M. - FNAF F.R.I.E.N.D.S. - Painting the World Gray - Remorse of the Factory - ____ (Non-Canon Roleplay Chronology) OC Roleplay - ''unnamed Mark Twain roleplay soon to come (2) - ''F.R.I.E.N.D.S. Factory Saga/Zero Regrets crossover - ___ Category:Males Category:Protagonist